LOS ANGELES — Back from the day off, the Rams jumped into their first training camp practice with pads. Friday served as the first real look at contact football at the line of scrimmage for 2026 and set the tone for the remainder of Rams Training Camp presented by CommunityAmerica Credit Union at LMU.
A consistent comment from the players at the podium, tight end Tyler Higbee and defensive end Kobie Turner, said to the media was that "real football" has officially commenced. But the same one-day-at-a-time approach remains. And despite his scheduled off day, defensive end Myles Garrett's impact still dominated the conversation.
"Today, getting the pads on for the first time, playing some real football. I was talking to (tight end Colby Parkinson) pre-practice, and he's like, 'This is the first time we've put on pads since the season ended.' OTAs, you're not in pads. First block we're out here with no pads, so it's nice to play some real football, which you're always shaking some rust off. - Higbee
Friday's shake-off-the-rust practice was the first time for veterans and rookies alike to hit with pads. Although the players understand the necessity and productivity of walk throughs and non-padded practices, the shared sentiment is one of excitement.
Both offensive and defensively, the feeling is "good, this is real ball now," Turner said. "All the other stuff is cool, you get to work your craft, but nothing like setting the pads, getting some real ball in. So it's cool to to start inching a little bit closer and closer to the season."
"We have a lot of really great flashes of our potential. It's about continuing to stack days. It's camp. It's going to have a lot of ups and downs. But when we're playing all together and all as one, we're a scary front, we're a scary defense. Front end, back end, at the second level, we have a complete package of a defense. So it's about putting it together, coming together, being on the same page." - Turner
During the entire offseason, there have been sky-high expectations placed on the Rams heading into 2026. While the team is confident in who they have and what they're capable of, they are not ignoring the process it will take to reach those goals that are still ahead of them — and that starts with the rest of training camp.
When asked about Super Bowl-or-bust expectations, Higbee was quick to note that the Super Bowl is "a long way away." Rather than focusing too much on the ultimate goal, similar to Turner's sentiment, Higbee is focused on the present and not looking too far ahead. "We got to go handle business Week 1 first. And prior to that, we got to come out here and handle business tomorrow. Work and get better. That's all. You got to be where your feet are, can't really think too far ahead, too far in the past. Yeah, just come out here and work tomorrow. That's it."
"It's really cool, even just going in the outside linebacker room, feeling the vibe in there. Then in the team meetings he's been great. And then his on the field play, his presence — you feel him. Certain defensive guys, you just feel them. They elicit a certain amount of attention where he can really change the math for you. It's what he's done throughout his career, and it's obviously a limited inventory where it's been a couple practices without pads on, but his ability to be able to understand sets, have real reactionary rushes where you're not predetermined, very very impressed and incredibly impressed with the human as well." - McVay
Even in Myles Garrett's scheduled day off, the narrative surrounds him and how he's impressed so far at Rams Training Camp. Whether it's the player or the person in the meeting or locker room, Garrett has impressed.
On the field from a defensive line point of view, Turner said "we definitely understand the opportunities that should be opened up." Whether those opportunities go to the rest of the defensive line because Garrett is being double teamed, or those opportunities go to Garrett because he's not, "it's cool to definitely be able to have a front where you know any one of us can win," Turner said.
